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Wednesday, September 01, 2010

LIVING WALL v2.0

Today brings us to the final installment of the hedge posts. We have started to get the areca palms in the ground along the south hedge, but we are not quite finished. Most are still in pots and lined up in along the property line. We go out an plant a few at a time when we have a free minute. Along the slopes of the berm, we planted TONS of rhoeo and asparagus fern.

We have lot's of rhoeo growing around the water tanks and it really need to be thinned out. So we pulled out about half and planted it along the berm to help prevent erosion. It's also very easy to maintain. It's a beautiful little plant with leaves that are green on one side and purple on the other. In some place I just planted the long stems with no foliage and they produced tons os new growth.

The asparagus ferns are light green in color and produce a white flower which smells like hot buttered popcorn. The flowers eventually turn to green berries which then turn red. When they drop they produce a new plant. The new seedlings were taken from spots all over the yard. What I like about them is that when planted up one top of the berm they will cascade down and cover a lot of ground. They also help block out a lot of weeds because they become quite dense. The one downfall is they are covered in very small thorns and when you get one in your hand it's like having a metal splinter stuck there for a few days.

Here you can see the arecas all lined up along the southern edge of the property.

The rhoeo in the first shot when planted mid July and a shot of how much they have filled from yesterday.
The asparagus ferns are to the left top corner.

Another shot of the rhoeo. The top image was taken August 12th and is of one of the stems I planted without foliage. The second image shows how a long piece of that stem has developed in about 3 weeks. The 2 small bright green plants are the asparagus fern.

A view of the front side of the berm with the rhoeo planted all along it's slopes.
Back view has more substantial plants like ti, corn plant, lilies and ginger because this is the side that will have a pool of water at least half way to the top.

With all of the plants now out of the shed site we have already begun the foundation and are ready to start the walls today or tomorrow. We are hoping to catch up to our current progress and will be posting about the foundation and floor in the next few post.